When would you say is a good time to focus on strategy creation or procurement strategies in general? Rather in turbulent times like now, or better wait for sunny days and smooth sailing in the more distant future?
The chain of external events over the past two years has been breathtaking, and their impact on procurement and supply chain management was massive. And if any of us thought that 2022 would bring us “back to normal,” we just have been taught another tough lesson.
What if there will be no “normal” in the near future? And who can be sure that things won’t get even worse from here?
It’s undisputed in the procurement community that having elaborate high-quality category strategies at hand provides the best possible foundation for tough times and disruptions. When preparation meets risks, high-quality category strategies allow for faster and more precise responses. Results, inevitably, will be better too.
“The move from being a category management starter to a category management improver could result in a saving performance uplift of up to 153%”
The harsh reality
We have all been there or seen it happen. A Procurement team overloaded with operational/tactical tasks, caught up in the fire-fighting of the most recent issues, hectically trying to resolve the problem of the day or to minimize the damage of a surprise event.
There was, and probably always will be, just so much time left for strategic tasks — no matter how violently we all agree on their utmost importance. So how can we make sure we get the most done with whatever share of time and resources are available? And get it done with superior quality output, regardless of how experienced our individual Procurement team members are?
If only there were a solution available to radically accelerate the process of category strategy creation or updating while securing the quality of results, stakeholder alignment and maximum transparency!
What if it already exists and gets applied globally by leading companies across various industries, from Fortune 500 players down to niche SMEs? With no barriers to entry and rapid implementation.
Do we have your attention? Then watch this space! Cirtuo is enabling a revolution.
Basic category strategy in <60 minutes:
- Category management purely focused on input — not on methodology
- Automated visualizations — no more PPT or XLS
- Guided along the process — structured, no omissions
- Recommended strategic options — built-in quality
- Suggested strategic objectives — pragmatic and proven
- Final editing and prioritizing — Category management always in the driving seat
“Applying Cirtuo’s Guided Strategy Creation™ has reduced the average time we need to develop a detailed category strategy by more than 50%. Enhanced efficiency boosts our effectiveness.”
— US-based global Retailer, Indirect Spend
Enter Cirtuo — Join the revolution!
Cirtuo super-charges the process of category strategy creation, with guidance, automation, AI-enablement, and full digitization of all related work on a single shared platform. Once you have a tool at your disposal that allows you to develop a basic category strategy in less than one hour, the argument of “too busy for strategy” flies out of the window. With Cirtuo’s “Guided Strategy Creation™” it’s just no longer an excuse.
As a user of Cirtuo’s Guided Strategy Creation™ solution, a procurement organization has the tool to consistently develop and refine high-quality category strategies with a minimum amount of time and resources. You establish the gold standard of category strategy development, and implement a single standard process and a set of strategic tools that every member of the procurement team can master. Its built-in emphasis on stakeholder alignment ensures buy-in from all internal key customers and guarantees the practicability of the developed strategies.
“As a Category Manager, I can finally focus solely on the input I give, its quality and accuracy, while Cirtuo guides me through the process and does all the heavy lifting for me.”
—Category Manager with 3 years’ procurement experience, Europe-based global Pharma company
And, eventually, high-quality category strategies pay off. Big time. The seamless crossover from strategic objectives to concrete initiatives and achieve results, all on one digital platform, provides the transparency required for actively managing procurement performance in order to consistently achieve superior results. Even more so in turbulent times.
Cirtuo’s Guided Strategy Creation™ becomes the sustainable strategic foundation of any procurement organization, securing the collectively accumulated know-how and fact base for all categories being documented, preserved and available to any relevant player at any time. The remaining risks around the “human factor” in Procurement will be significantly lower.
“This type of technology is no longer a nice-to-have. It is essential during a time of such variability — of supply, demand, inflation and total cost volatility. If you could build a perfect mousetrap to engineer the perfect blend of artificial intelligence and human intelligence for category management, Cirtuo would be it. Even expert, highly analytical humans alone cannot strategize as effectively as they can with the help of technology like this. It replaces the lower value-added aspects of consulting and internal analysis with a better, technology-led approach.”
— Jason Busch, Founder, Spend Matters, 2021
Curious to see how Cirtuo’s Guided Strategy Creation™ works? … and how easily it can be implemented? Want to find out what it specifically can do for your procurement organization? Request a demo It’ll tell you more than a thousand words. We look forward to impressing you!
